A former ships' cook who raped his partner's daughter has been jailed for eight years by Mr Justice O'Donovan at the Central Criminal Court.
Nicholas Tobin (42), single, from Russell Heights, Cobh, Co Cork, was convicted by a jury on three charges of raping her and eight charges of indecently assaulting over a four-year period from 1985. She was aged 12-15 years at the time.
The jury returned the guilty verdicts by a 10 to 2 majority on March 15th last after five hours of deliberation. Ms Pauline Walley, for the prosecution, said the now 27-year-old married victim wanted Tobin to be named in the media.
Mr Justice O'Donovan told Tobin he was therefore directing that his name and address be published. He said there were virtually no mitigating aspects in the case.
Tobin's conduct over four years was an "abominable and a woeful abuse of trust". He was living with the victim's mother as man and wife and was regarded as a fatherly figure by her children.
"You condemned this young girl to four years of rape, sexual assault and molestation and have compounded that by your constant denial of guilt after forcing her into the witness box and calling her a liar," he said.
Mr Justice O'Donovan said it was quite clear that Tobin's "degradation" had left the victim badly hurt and he still showed no remorse. He imposed three terms of eight years each on the rape charges and eight of four years each on the remaining charges, all to run concurrently.
Earlier, in a statement read to the court by Ms Walley, the victim revealed she had spoken three times to her mother about Tobin's sexual abuse of her but her mother did nothing.
She told Mr Justice O'Donovan that Tobin had "raped, physically, sexually and mentally abused" her. He had her thrown out of her home when she was 19 because he considered her a threat and she was objecting to his ways.